


dream a little bigger, darling

by pesha



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-13
Updated: 2011-08-13
Packaged: 2017-10-22 14:17:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/238935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pesha/pseuds/pesha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur and Eames find a way to fall into a new beginning when the end comes for them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	dream a little bigger, darling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jain/gifts).



> This can also be read as gen.

Everyone always predicted that it would start in the Middle East. All those volatile forces roiling together in the same small area: a never-sleeping war zone to whom peace was only an unattainable dream.

If they weren't betting on the tensions of the Middle East, the politicals would have started heralding the end from the hands of the Communists. It was always a good bet to start pointing the finger at the Communists. They had a history of warmongering, brutal attacks, and ruthless wartime tactics.

Neither of them were right, in the end.

It turns out that the road to Hell really _is_ paved with good intentions and the end?

Came from Saskatoon, Canada.

Their researchers had been working for years on an eco-friendly growth accelerant for wheat. It was supposed to improve crops to the degree that it would allow them to make world hunger obsolete. The team's progress was phenomenal; within five years, their government had allowed them to introduce their accelerant into the water supply for the irrigation canals of five major fields and they were more than pleased with the results.

It was six years in that they began to research faster methods of introduction for the accelerant. Their extensive testing had proved it was safe, right?

They turned it into a powder, used crop-dusting planes and flew it out.

No one saw the results coming. Cancer was a silent killer. It didn't exactly announce itself with a war cry.

The accelerants encouraged the growth of _everything_ , including itself. It was estimated later that it had propagated at an unparalleled rate, spreading worldwide in less than ninety-six hours, a silent worldkiller.

A year after it was dusted over crops in Canada, there were more than a hundred million deaths caused by rare, overgrowing cancers and millions of other cases were at end-stage ranges already. Medical professionals were working around the clock to try to find a way to stop it, reverse it, put it into remission, but it was useless. All their efforts managed to do was start a sweeping arc of superbugs that ravaged nations far and wide.

~*~

"I always thought if it were a virus, we'd be getting zombies, eh?"

Arthur rolled his eyes elaborately, "You keep thinking like that and I imagine our eternity will be significantly more intense than either of us would like. I have no desire to fight off hordes of undead projections, thanks very much."

"At least we'll still be fighting."

He kept a careful eye on Eames as he staggered away from the test site. The forger was exhibiting signs of lung cancer, creeping lymphomas, and Arthur was fairly certain that it had spread into his bone marrow by now. Their relationship wasn't one in which he was privy to all the details. Death was a private matter for them and Arthur was hardly ready to start talking about the way that his abdomen felt now that his gut was eating itself.

"You always know how to look to the bright side."

Eames gave an harassed bark of laughter. It was enough to lighten the mood for the moment. Arthur wasn't prepared to ask for much more. Neither of them had much to laugh about anymore.

"I do try, love. Tell me why we're waiting again? We've hardly got anyone to wait for by now."

That was certainly the truth. Saito had gone first from complications that were not disclosed to them; Ariadne had been next, her youth no match for the flashfire of her leukemia. Yusuf had survived crippling pancreatic carcinoma long enough to perfect the sedative they were going to use to reach Limbo; he had gone out testing it himself and neither of them were a hundred-percent that he wasn't already down in the ether, waiting on them to arrive.

Arthur sighed, "You know I only wait for you these days and if you were faster, I wouldn't have to wait at all."

There was no point in contemplating Cobb's fate. He was still out there. They knew that much. He had responded to their request for contact and the sight of his face -leaner and slightly wasted- had rocked them both back from the telecom. Arthur had offered him their solution: _"We know better than most what's possible in the world of the dream. This doesn't have to be the end."_

Eames had seemed shocked that he'd turned them down. Arthur had noticed the strained silence on Cobb's side of the line, given that his children were still young enough to have to force silence on, it was nothing like a shock to him that their former leader would have no use for an eternal trip to Limbo. He knew that Cobb had suffered enough in a Limbo where he _knew_ his children were alive; Arthur would never expect the man to survive an eternity where he was certain of the opposite.

Come to that, neither of them wanted to face the prospect of an eternity in Limbo with Cobb's projections. His declination of their offer had been both elegant and relieving. Arthur wouldn't have been able to go into the void without knowing he'd given Cobb the chance to come with him. Dom had introduced him to the world of the dream, to a realm of endless possibilities, and, ultimately, to Eames whose influence was enough to keep Arthur from being crushed beneath the weight of even the end of the world. Extending the offer to him had been the least he could do.

Eames interrupted his thoughts with a burst of coughing. Arthur watched him carefully, trying to judge the amount of blood flecking his lips to see what kind of time they had left: not a lot from the sound of things.

"Wait much longer, darling, and you'll be going alone."

Eames sounded apologetic as he gasped roughly for breath. Arthur allowed himself a nod in reply.

"We'll go tomorrow. There isn't much I can do with the serum without Yusuf, but I want to make sure that the delivery system is flawless. It has to be fast enough to get you down before," he nodded once more at Eames where he crouched, fighting for every breath.

Eames smiled, "I understand. So sweet of you to consider me first. I promise I'll make it up to you once we're under. I'm afraid I'm in no shape at present to give you the consideration you deserve."

He left to try to regain what strength he could from sleep and Arthur found his own smile while he manipulated the injection device once more. They couldn't risk anything short of total perfection. There was no way to get more of the sedative if they didn't make it under during this trial. It was do or die time and neither of them was in the mood to die.

~*~

Yusuf hadn't lied when he had said it was the most potent sedative he had ever created. The pains in their failing bodies had been no match for the drugging quality of the chemist's last concoction. It had been exactly like falling asleep; the irony of that wasn't lost on either of them.

They reached the dream easily, together, and simply took a moment to breathe in clean, pain-free air. Arthur hadn't seen Eames breathe easily in long enough that he enjoyed watching the man breathe as much as Eames himself seemed to enjoy the breathing. He couldn't control the smile that tightened out his face, stretched his limits, and threatened to send him spiraling on down into Limbo without Eames from the sheer force of his joy.

"We're in."

"We are," Arthur agreed.

Eames walked to the edge of the bridge they had emerged on. He nodded toward the yawning drop.

"Shall we dive on down the rabbit hole?"

Arthur moved to join him at his side and nodded, "I'm game to dream a little bigger."

Eames laughed loudly as they jumped together and Limbo raised its arms up to meet them.


End file.
